I've now finished my first working at Camino Seguro, and it's been great, meaningful, powerful, tiring, fun, stimulating, and a million other things. However, before I get into that, I took a trip last weekend that deserves some mention.
Someone I'd met at the language school asked if I wanted to come along on a trip to Semuc Champey, which he described as being highly recommended, involving water and caves, and costing not-that-much money. So, I said I was in without really asking for any more info. Because I went on a tour of the Camino Seguro facilities, I wasn't at school to sign-up with the rest of the folk, and went into Friday morning knowing just what I described above and having no idea if I was going for sure. Sure enough I showed up, signed up during our midmorning break, and left at 2 PM that day. My host-mom found it somewhere between funny and unbelievable that I was committing to the trip knowing just about nothing about it, not even a real price or return or departure times, but the trip was a lovely adventure so I'd say my methods served me. Semuc Champey is a nature area with beautiful natural pools that you can swim in, waterfalls and cliffs and rope-swings to jump off of, a river to tube down, and a partially submerged cave to explore by candle-light. We did all of that in just one day. It's about 9 hours away from Antigua, so Friday and Sunday were both travel days, leaving Saturday as the day of nonstop awesomeness. Aside from Semuc Champey being so cool itself, the group I went with made the trip really fun. I only knew 4 out of the 10 people going before I got on the van, but by the end I'd say I got know everyone quite well. Everyone on the trip was interesting, but also really laid back, good traits to have for 2 long busrides and 1 chock-full of activity. I laughed a lot, and learned a lot about Taiwan, life at a small christian college in MI, entrepreneurship, and LA's Persian Jews, among other things. It was a blast.
Some pictures:
Monday morning I woke up at 6:30 to catch a the Camino Seguro volunteer bus into Guate (what the capital is usually called here). Monday was orientation for the 11 new volunteers, which is a huge amount given that the program usually has around 40 at a time all of whom are there for 5 weeks at the very least. Because there were so many of us, orientation took the whole 8 hours, and we didn't find out our jobs and start working until the next day. Tuesday morning on the bus, I found out that I would be working with Segundo Básico (8th grade) and Quinto Primario (5th grade). I was supposed to start out shadowing someone, but the person I was supposed to shadow was sick, so I just jumped right in. The first day went amazingly well and each day after went only better. Basically, Camino Seguro provides the kids with meals, English lessons, and homework support so it's not like we have to have lesson plans that progressively cover huge topics. Basically, I walk around and see which kids want help with homework, and if no one has any questions, do my best to maintain order and calm, and to keep the kids with no homework learning or engaged or at the very least, entertained. Mostly I've helped with English and Math, and I really feel like I've helped some of the kids learn some important concepts, which is really satisfying.
As I somewhat explained in an earlier post, the kids who get to go to Camino Seguro come from families that live on the edges of, and/or work in the huge garbage dump. The main criteria for choosing from all of the kids of the community around the dump is need, as determined by Camino Seguro's social workers. That means that a lot of the kids I work with don't just come from poor backgrounds, they come from families that can be abusive, full of addicts, or non-existant. Because of this, the personal relationship I form with the kids has a significance thats a lot deeper than just getting them comfortable enough with me to ask for help with homework. It's been hard trying to building a relationship with about 50 kids in just 4 days (especially because I'm not very good with names), but I can already talk to and get a grin out of most of the kids (which is so gratifying to see on a face that comes in grim, dirty, glum) and I know that my connection with the kids will only get deeper. I know I haven't done much at all yet, bust already I'm somewhat lost for words when it comes to expressing what a difference I see in the kids even after just a few days trying to convey to the kids that they do have personal value and trying to give them something to smile about.
That said, teaching--especially in my second language to kids from rough backgrounds-- isn't all fun and easy smiles and cooperation. I'm still struggling to earn serious respect from some kids, and the chaos that arises when a lot of kids aren't working can really do a number on you. Friday only a couple of kids in my older class had homework, and that got to be exhausing really quickly. I took a nap after I ate which helped, but as always, a certain few kids were being really uncooperative about taking their vitamins, waiting their turn to get toothpaste, and lining up to head to the classroom, and that put me on edge. We were scheduled for gym class that day, and it was raining, which meant that there would be combined, indoor gym class (which is notoriously chaotic) and my patience was already running short. Fortunately, English class was first, and I was reminded in a very direct and powerful way what I was working for. Because the next day was Teacher's Day, the lesson for the day was to make Happy Teacher's Day cards for their teacher, who they've been with now for a year and a half. To my surprise, several kids asked for a second sheet of construction paper, and made me a card too. All of the cards had really sweet messages, and it was particularly touching because a couple of them came from kids I'd been struggling to get the right kind of respect from. Just like that, my day was turned around, I maintained my enthusiasm through a chaotic gym class, and came home for the weekend feeling satisfied in what I'd accomplished during my first week.
As I somewhat explained in an earlier post, the kids who get to go to Camino Seguro come from families that live on the edges of, and/or work in the huge garbage dump. The main criteria for choosing from all of the kids of the community around the dump is need, as determined by Camino Seguro's social workers. That means that a lot of the kids I work with don't just come from poor backgrounds, they come from families that can be abusive, full of addicts, or non-existant. Because of this, the personal relationship I form with the kids has a significance thats a lot deeper than just getting them comfortable enough with me to ask for help with homework. It's been hard trying to building a relationship with about 50 kids in just 4 days (especially because I'm not very good with names), but I can already talk to and get a grin out of most of the kids (which is so gratifying to see on a face that comes in grim, dirty, glum) and I know that my connection with the kids will only get deeper. I know I haven't done much at all yet, bust already I'm somewhat lost for words when it comes to expressing what a difference I see in the kids even after just a few days trying to convey to the kids that they do have personal value and trying to give them something to smile about.
That said, teaching--especially in my second language to kids from rough backgrounds-- isn't all fun and easy smiles and cooperation. I'm still struggling to earn serious respect from some kids, and the chaos that arises when a lot of kids aren't working can really do a number on you. Friday only a couple of kids in my older class had homework, and that got to be exhausing really quickly. I took a nap after I ate which helped, but as always, a certain few kids were being really uncooperative about taking their vitamins, waiting their turn to get toothpaste, and lining up to head to the classroom, and that put me on edge. We were scheduled for gym class that day, and it was raining, which meant that there would be combined, indoor gym class (which is notoriously chaotic) and my patience was already running short. Fortunately, English class was first, and I was reminded in a very direct and powerful way what I was working for. Because the next day was Teacher's Day, the lesson for the day was to make Happy Teacher's Day cards for their teacher, who they've been with now for a year and a half. To my surprise, several kids asked for a second sheet of construction paper, and made me a card too. All of the cards had really sweet messages, and it was particularly touching because a couple of them came from kids I'd been struggling to get the right kind of respect from. Just like that, my day was turned around, I maintained my enthusiasm through a chaotic gym class, and came home for the weekend feeling satisfied in what I'd accomplished during my first week.
Stepping back from Camino Seguro to talk about something else (which as I had been warned beforehand, can be a challenge), Saturday morning I went with a friend and climbed Volcán Pacaya, a volcano not far from Antigua that just erupted last year. It was cool to see huge swathes of land freshly covered in volcanic ash, the views were lovely when the clouds parted for a moment, and all of the colors were vivid, but we didn't realize that the standard hike doesnt actually go all the way to the top. It only costs $8 more to get a guide to take you up to the crater at the peak where you can see the lava, but since we came with a group and didn't know it beforehand, there was nothing to be done. Maybe I'll do the full thing some time as a night-time hike, which is supposed to be amazing.
Photo-evidence:
3 things that are different here
1. Right now it is the rainy season, so you can count on it to rain hard once during the afternoon. Unfortunately, it also can rain several times a day (e.g. today, when rain spoiled plans to take a walk up to the gringo hippy avocado farm/commune/hostel, and to play ultimate frisbee).
2. Because of the climate, most multi-room buildings have open-air hallways and an open patio. Paths from room to room have overhangs so that you can walk from place to place without getting wet, but since there's no need for AC or heat, everything's pretty open.
3. The dynamic between locals and foreigners here is different from any I've experienced. Maybe not so drastically different, but especially here in Antigua--Guatemala's tourist HQ--it's always present. My perspective isn't fair of course because I haven't gone anywhere off the beaten path for foreigners so everyone I've been around has been very used to foreigners coming and going, but even considering what I've experienced just a substrain of Guatemalan culture, I haven't ever spent time in a place where such a big proportion of people get their livelihoods from tourist-related industries. I think especially because of the language barrier (if you look gringo, you're assumed to speak slim-to-no Spanish), I get the sense that when people look at me and see a gringo, I'm thought of either as being a possible source of money, or as common oddity that isn't particularly interesting. Of course, there are Guatemalans who are very kind to and interested by foreigners, but especially before people realize that I speak Spanish, I feel like there's a preconception that I can only have the same amount of significance to them as all the other gringos they see, and no thought that I might be of any interest past that. It's a subtle difference that might be more pronounced for me because I've always lived in a pretty small and interconnected community, but it is a bit disconcerting for me. All the same, even where this preconception is present, it can be overcome. I know a lot of people do form close relationships with Guatemalans, and hopefully I'll soon be one of those people.
Coming Up:
-My second week at Camino Seguro
-A whirlwind tour of northern Guatemala over the four-day weekend
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